LOUGHBOROUGH motorcycle racer James Edmeades was blighted by technical problems at Snetterton in Norfolk in rounds three and four of the KTM Super Duke Battle recently.

Saturday afternoon’s race started in damp conditions after a heavy rain shower. With tyre choice being a lottery James opted for wet tyres front and rear.

He made an excellent start from the second row of the grid to be running in a good third place, and in touch with the two leaders, for the first three laps.

Then disaster struck on the fourth lap when he was brought down by another rider and his race was ended prematurely.

“I was so gutted to be taken out of the race,” Edmeades said. “The rider behind came from about 20 yards back and T-boned me coming out of Russell’s chicane.

“Until then I was going really well as we had made the right tyre choice and I was on for a podium finish.”

Sunday morning’s KTM race was held in contrasting conditions, as the weather was warmer and sunny.

Once again James started well and was up to sixth place by the end of the second lap of the 12-lap race.

He continued in sixth place although he was having difficulty changing gear at times, then on the last lap the bike jumped out of gear and he was passed by Ed Smith, which put him back to finish in seventh place.

“At least I managed to finish the race this time,” he quipped. “When we looked at the bike more closely we found that the gear selector had been damaged in the crash, which caused the gear problems in the second race.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the way things have turned out because I know I could have possibly had two podium finishes this weekend.

“I also hurt my right elbow in the crash and it’s sore and swollen now, but I hope to be OK for Mallory Park in two weeks time, as it’s a fairly local track for me.”